Profile: Cuba's PM Manuel Marrero

Manuel Marrero, named by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, took office Saturday as Cuba's first prime minister in more than four decades.

The following is a profile of Marrero.

Marrero, 56, has become the country's first prime minister since 1976.

The positon of prime minister was last held by Fidel Castro from 1959 to 1976. The Diaz-Canel administration reinstalled it in accordance with the new Constitution adopted earlier this year.

Marrero, an architect, began his working life in 1990 as an investor at the Gaviota Tourism Group in the eastern Holguin province.

He became the vice president of the Gaviota Hotel Group in 1999, and served as its president from 2000 to 2004.

In 2004, he was named as tourism minister, a position he has held to date.

Marrero's appointment is considered as another step in the generational replacement of the island's leadership since the founding fathers are now in their eighties.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)